Although sugar does not contain triglycerides, your body easily converts it to triglycerides, an artery-clogging fat. If you drink regular soda and other sweet drinks that contain sugar, your triglycerides might elevate to dangerous levels. Sweet drinks that contain real or artificial cream may contain triglycerides in the form of saturated fat or trans fat. A triglyceride-friendly diet limits calories from foods with added sugar to 5 to 10 percent of your daily total, saturated fat to 16 g a day and trans fat to 2 g daily.
Healthy Triglyceride Levels
Aim to keep your triglycerides below 150 milligrams per deciliter of blood. The American Heart Association in April 2011 changed its recommendation for heart-healthy triglycerides levels to 100 mg/dl or less. Triglycerides, a type of fat that acts similarly to low-density lipoprotein, or "bad" cholesterol, in your bloodstream, put you at high risk of heart attacks and strokes if they rise above 200 mg/dl and at very high risk if they top 500 mg/dl. You can improve your triglycerides if you limit drinks that contain added sugar or fat.
Sugar and Triglycerides
To manage triglyceride levels, drink no more than 36 ounces -- three cans -- of sugar-sweetened beverages a week. Avoid drinks that contain sugar in the form of high fructose corn syrup, glucose, fructose, sucrose, honey, molasses or maltose. Your daily diet should not include more than 6 teaspoons of sugar if you're a woman, and 8 teaspoons if you're a man. If you regularly add sugar to tea or coffee, eliminate other sources of added sugar from your diet -- cookies, candies and baked goods, for instance -- or sweeten your drinks with artificial sweeteners.
Artifcial Sweeteners and Fruit Juice
Artificial sweeteners will not harm your triglyceride levels, as they contain no sugar and virtually no calories. You can use them to sweeten iced tea, lemonade, limeade, hot chocolate and coffee drinks. Choose among artificial sweeteners approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration: neotame, aspartame, saccharin, sucralose and and acesulfame potassium. Fruit juices will not harm your triglycerides if you drink them in moderation. One cup of orange juice contains 20.83 g of sugar, and 1 cup of apple juice contains about 24 g. Limit fructose, or fruit sugar, in your diet to 50 mg to 100 mg a day.
Considerations
You can make sweet drinks with fruit. A smoothie made with a banana, 1 cup of strawberries and 1 cup of non-fat milk contains about 9 g of fructose and about 12 g of natural sugar from the milk. If you want an ice cream drink, make it with a no-sugar added variety. A 1/2-cup serving of chocolate ice cream without extra sugar contains 4 g of sugar per serving compared to 16.74 g of sugar in 1/2 cup of regular chocolate ice cream. But ice cream contains saturated fat -- about 2.5 g in 1/2 cup. And non-dairy toppings and creamers may contain trans fat. Check labels before adding these items to a sweetened drink.
References
- Cleveland Clinic; Heart and Vascular Health and Prevention; How Foods Affect Triglycerides
- MayoClinic.com; High Cholesterol; June 1, 2011
- American Heart Association; Diet, Lifestyle Changes Can Significantly Reduce Triglyceride; April 18, 2011
- USDA: National Nutrient Database
- MayoClinic.com; Healthy Diet: End the Guesswork With These Nutrition Guidelines; Feb. 22, 2011
- American Diabetes Association: Food and Fitness -- Artificial Sweeteners
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